Liquid fuel burning cigarette lighters generally include reservoirs within the lighter housings to contain the fuel and prevent inadvertent leaking. Numerous types of mechanisms and methods are known to release the fuel from the reservoirs in a controlled manner and to ignite the fuel for lighting a cigarette, cigar, or smoking pipe.
There exists a need for improvement in the supply of fuel to liquid fuel burning lighters, and such is an object of the present invention. There exists the need for improvement in the convenience of refueling such lighters, and such is another object of the present invention. There exists the need for improvement in the safety of refueling such lighters, and such is another object of the present invention. There exists the need for improvement in the economy of refueling such lighters, and such is another object of the present invention. There exists the need for improvement in the convenience of gauging the need for refueling such lighters, and such is another object of the present invention. There exists the need for improvement in the efficacy of gauging the need for refueling such lighters, and such is another object of the present invention. And there exists the need to ease the removal of such a fuel cartridge from such a lighter.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,939,128, 6,733,277, 6,478,575, 6,443,727, 6,431,853, and 5,531,591 teach mechanisms and means for releasing, lighting, and extinguishing fuel in state-of the art liquid fuel burning lighters. Such mechanisms and means may be adaptable to a lighter of the present invention and are therefore anticipated for use within the present invention, and the specifications of these patents are incorporated herein by reference.